


A Galaxy of Equivalent Exchange

by LiterallyThePresident



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Vulcan Elric brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 19:28:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13278309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: An au where the Elrics are vulcan





	A Galaxy of Equivalent Exchange

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Unholy_Author](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unholy_Author/gifts).



> So some background. Edward and Alphonse are vulcan, they tried to revive their mother with medicine and failed, but Edward managed to transfer Al’s katra through his own head and into a nearby PADD before passing out. They kinda became outcasts and Edward traveled around trying to scrounge up the resources to build Al a body. They eventually ran into a betazoid Federation captain by the name of Roy Mustang, who allowed them to join his crew. Edward took the opportunity to upload Al into the ship to get him out of that PADD and give him a little more freedom.
> 
> (I might make a series out of this, idk yet)

His brother slept like their mother, sprawled across the bed with the blankets tangled and his hair everywhere. Alphonse remembered how often he’d wake with that hair in his mouth on the few occasions he’d slip into Edward’s room to sleep with him after a bad nightmare. He hadn’t felt the need since he’d learned meditation at age five, and even then father had scolded him for allowing what he’d seen as an irrational dependency on Edward to last for so long.

He’d told himself he’d be fine without relying on Edward, and he had been for a little bit. Then their mother had died, Edward had come up with their plan to revive her with science and medicine, and everything had gone horribly wrong. All ideas of not needing Edward had flown from his mind, and the horror of no longer being able to feel his body coiled painfully with the horror of Edward’s green blood pooling under his broken body. He’d been trapped in a tiny PADD, screaming for the first time in his life, helpless as his brother bled out right next to him (oh how father would have pursed his lips at the display of emotion).

The horrible event had passed, they’d both survived, but sometimes Alphonse still felt helpless despite being an entire starship now. Sometimes though, such as now with Edward’s door firmly locked with a code only he and his brother knew, Alphonse felt like he could be of use. At the very least, no one could sneak in and hurt his brother while he slept. No one could sneak in and hurt anyone on this ship. Alphonse could stop them. The crew could sleep easy.

He missed sleeping. He missed being able to stop thinking for a few hours. He’d learned the mind went to odd places in the early hours of the morning.

Edward shifted in his sleep, mumbling something unintelligible in some human language. Both he and Alphonse had been named after humans; Edward after the human doctor that delivered him, Alphonse after a famous human rocket scientist their mother had admired. The names got them many odd looks from vulcan and alien alike, and Alphonse could tell Edward resented it. He’d nearly bitten the drunken Ling when he’d commented on it, just as he’d hissed at Captain Mustang for treating him like a lost human child.

Alphonse had disliked Captain Mustang at first, disliked how the betazoid had initially recoiled at whatever he sensed of Edward’s psyche, disliked his attitude towards his brother and his obvious distrust of Alphonse. But living with him, being able to watch him and see how he lived his life, how he held on to Riza in the dark nights after a death on the ship, the resentment faded quickly. He saw that he was simply a man in a big galaxy trying to keep his people safe. Alphonse had even been able to pinpoint the time frame in which he and Edward had become his people.

As they settled in, the crew had grown more comfortable with them. They became less the mysterious young vulcan passenger with a sentient AI, and more a part of the crew. It took three days for someone to invite Edward to sit with them at lunch, four days for them to work up the courage to ask about Alphonse, and a mere one week for them to be loudly announced by Maes, Ling, and Armstrong as part of ‘the family’. The crew eventually started calling him Al, and he was surprised when Edward picked up the quirk as well. His brother would deny to his death that he held any fondness for the strange batch of aliens they’d fallen in with, but Alphonse saw the little things. The way Edward deliberately provoked the captain when he was having a bad day, the way he guarded Ling on away missions for fear of Lan Fan’s blade, how he indulged (barely) Armstrong’s need for emotional displays and physical contact, kept quiet conversation with Riza during down time, listened to Maes gush about his family back home. Alphonse saw everything, even if Edward denied it.

His brother murmured in his sleep, tugging the blanket closer. Alphonse raised the temperature in the room three degrees in response. He felt the oddest sense of something shifting. All his life, his brother had been there for him. He’d always had Edward’s full attention, all his doting and fussing and devotion. Even their trill neighbor Winry had come second to him. Now, Edward had others. He had friends. He no longer locked himself away to try to build Al a body. He no longer neglected to eat or sleep in an unhealthy attempt to fix what he viewed as his own mistake. He no longer bore this burden alone, refusing to let anyone in.

Alphonse felt... happy. It was an odd thing, finally beginning to experience emotions only after he no longer had a body to appreciate them. But he found that didn’t matter. Edward had friends. Edward had people who would look out for him. Edward would be taken care of in the event of Alphonse’s death. The crew would ensure that he didn’t do anything reckless, that he didn’t give up on living as Alphonse so feared he might.

It put his tumultuous mind to rest. Edward slept, oblivious to his musings, and Alphonse kept watch.


End file.
